Israeli brothers arrested for stealing over $10 million in bitcoin

Jun 24, 2019

Two brothers from Jerusalem, Israel have been arrested for stealing cryptocurrencies for over $10 million, mostly in bitcoin. The theft was carried out in phishing attacks, where the two accused caused users of crypto exchanges to click on links that gave the brothers control over the victim’s cryptocurrency wallets, Finance Magnates reports.

The brothers, named Assaf and Eli Gigi, set up websites that looked like known crypto exchanges to make the bluff even more credible. It is unclear exactly how much they have stolen, but according to the Israeli police, it’s tens of millions of dollars.

May be involved in Bitfinex hack

The investigators suspect that the brothers may have been involved in the big hack of the Bitfinex crypto exchange in 2016, but the police do not want to comment on this.

When the brothers were arrested, the police were reportedly able to find a crypto wallet containing some of the money, but far from the total amount that was stolen by Assaf and Eli Gigi, reports Finance Magnates.